


Always, Forever

by Sasspiria



Series: AU-gust 2020 [2]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Alpha Handsome Jack (Borderlands), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - College/University, And the consequences of it, Biting, Bottom Rhys (Borderlands), Crying, Daddy Issues, Daddy Kink, Dom/sub Undertones, Dubious Consent, Extremely Dubious Consent, Forced Bonding, Held Down, Jack is Rhys' mean (but kinda hot) step-dad, Jealousy, Kinda bad wrong sorry, M/M, Non-Consensual Spanking, Omega Rhys, Possessive Behavior, Possessive Sex, Pseudo-Incest, Rhys is conflicted but ultimately into it, Rough Sex, Who Rhys' mom left Rhys with when she and Jack divorced cause she sucks, could be read as, hes more upset by what a surprise it is, kind of, tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:53:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25321213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sasspiria/pseuds/Sasspiria
Summary: Ever since Rhys was a child and he was abandoned by his mother, he's been under the guardianship and care of Handsome Jack.When Rhys comes home with his first serious boyfriend, something snaps in Jack and takes drastic measures to make sure that the omega is his, and stays his, forever.
Relationships: August/Rhys (Borderlands), Handsome Jack/Rhys (Borderlands)
Series: AU-gust 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1831921
Comments: 12
Kudos: 88
Collections: AUgust 2020





	Always, Forever

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is legit super dirty sorry lol 
> 
> Prompt is for Au-gust 2020: Day 2 - College/university. 
> 
> [come talk to me on twitter!](https://twitter.com/Sasspiria)

Rhys had been twelve when his mother abandoned him. The day that it had happened, he hadn’t realized it. Not at first at least. Not until it was late in the day, because Rhys had been out riding his bike all over the town nearly the whole day. He liked to do that, it gave him the opportunity to be by himself with his thoughts. By the time that he was ready to come home, he was exhausted and all he wanted to do was take a bath and go to sleep.

“Mom? Jack?” He asked, as he entered the house. No one answered him. He frowned, they never liked to leave him home alone – and if they did go out, they always made sure to tell him first and call a babysitter (despite how many pains Rhys went to let them know that he was not a baby anymore!) before they left. But no one was here. Not his mom. Not Jack. Not even a neighborhood girl to watch him. “Hellooooo?” He shouted, “Anyone out there?”

He huffed as he got no response. “Whatever…” He grumbled to himself. He was sure that they were around here somewhere. Maybe they were just messing with him…He didn’t really want to deal with it right then, so he decided to just walk into the kitchen and make himself a snack. He sat at the kitchen table with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, as well as some slices of drake fruit and ate with a disgruntled expression spread across his face.

Halfway through his meal, Jack walked back into the kitchen with his echo out and someone on the other line of a call. He seemed furious with them, Rhys could see how angry he was. It was written all over his face. “What about Rhys?” Jack snapped, “You can’t just leave him here.” He added. Rhys perked up in interest as he heard his name. He looked up at Jack, but Jack didn’t pay him any attention – Jack probably didn’t even see him.

“What about him?” Rhys heard his mother say. Her voice was icy, indifferent towards anything that he might have thought was important to her. Like her own son.

“He’s your son.” Jack replied, with barely controlled anger. “If you wanna just cut and run – fucking leave me, in the middle of the fucking night… fucking fine. But you can’t just abandon your kid if shit gets hard.” The anger was becoming more and more obvious like the second.

“Take him to a shelter.” She replied, “Sell him to a whore house. Take him to a neighborhood that he doesn’t know and leave him there. Do whatever the fuck you want with him. I don’t care anymore, he’s your problem now.” She was practically hissing. It was like she hated Rhys as much as she apparently hated Jack. And Rhys had no idea where it was coming from. He doesn’t know what he ever did to deserve this, this hatred and animosity that she seemed to have for him.

Jack growled, “You know this is fucking low, even for you.” He snapped. Then he readjusted and chuckled, “You know what? No. I’m not even gonna bother. Rhys is better off without you if this is how you’re gonna treat him.” Rhys’ mother started to argue with him, “SHUT UP. I hope you choke on the olive in your fucking martini.” He sneered at her, “Have a worthless life, Kathleen.”

Rhys let out a gasp just as the call ended. He slammed his hand over his mouth and muffled a miserable, horrified sob at the realization of what had just happened. He had been abandoned and, for the life of him, he couldn’t understand what he did wrong. Jack noticed him then, he noticed the hurt that was written across his face, he noticed the fear of being all by himself. It was heartbreaking to the alpha. He knew exactly what the omega was going through.

He cursed under his breath as he looked at Rhys, took in the horrified and miserable expression spread across his face. “Shit-” He started to say as Rhys turned and ran out the door, “Rhys, wait!” He shouted as he ran out the door after him. Rhys ran out the door and down the street, Jack not far behind him. He stopped at the bridge that connected two sides of a lake together halfway through the city. He would have ran farther if he could, but he was exhausted and scared.

Rhys sunk down on his knees and started to hyperventilate, he rocked back and forth in place and whimpered helplessly. He was at his lowest when Jack finally caught up with him. Jack sat down next to him. “Hey, kiddo.” He said, “You trying out for a marathon or what?” He teased.

“I hate running.” Rhys huffed, rolling his eyes at the older man.

Jack smiled at that, “Really? Then what are you doing all the way out here?” He asked teasingly, “You know you scared the shit out of me back there. I thought you were gonna end up hurting yourself or something.” Rhys pouted and stubbornly stayed silent, refusing to look at Jack. “Rhysie, come on home.” Jack quietly urged, wrapping an arm around the omega as he spoke.

“I don’t have a home.” Rhys replied bitterly. “Not anymore.” He hid his face against his knees as tears welled up in his eyes.

“Yes you do.” Jack snapped, his patience running thin. “You’ve got a home, Rhysie.”

“Y-you heard my mom. She doesn’t want me anymore.” He replied quietly as he started to sob pitifully, the reality of his situation was becoming more and more clear by the moment.

“I’m not talking about her, dummy. She can go fuck herself, she doesn’t deserve to have you as a child.” The older man replied, flicking him on the nose in a teasing manner. Rhys looked at him, a confused expression spread across his face. His eyes wide and tears streaming down his cheeks as he looked at the alpha. “You’ve got a home with me, Rhysie. If you want it.” He offered.

“You wanna take me in?” Rhys asked. “Are you sure about that?” He wanted that to be true. He desperately wanted that to be true, but he felt like no one would ever want him. How could they, when his own mother didn’t even want him?

Jack huffed. “I’m pretty sure, cupcake.” He said, “I thought you were smart.” He added derisively.

“I am!” Rhys snapped at him, but his expression quickly morphed into something more bashful. “But you could just take me to a shelter or something…” He said, his tone miserable as he thought on every cruel thing that he had overheard his mother say about him. “You have no responsibility for me. Why would you want to keep me around?” He asked.

Jack chuckled to himself in response, shaking his head a bit. “Because I know what it’s like to be abandoned by someone like that.” He said, forcing his tone to be gentle and reassuring to the young omega. “I would never do that to someone else, specially not someone sweet like you, Rhysie.” He assured him. “Come on, kiddo, let’s go home.” He urged quietly.

“O-okay.” Rhys said, his voice filled with sobs. Rhys curled up in Jack’s arms and allowed himself to be carried off in the alphas arms, he clung to the man while he cried himself out. Jack took him home and tucked him into bed and his mother was never given another chance to disrupt his life, ever again.

* * *

**Fifteen years later…**

* * *

Wind flied past Rhys’ usually so well coiffed hair as he sat in the passenger side of his new boyfriend, August’s car. It was a kind of beat up vehicle – it was old and August had probably put way more than it was worth in order to keep it up and running. Rhys liked it all the same, it had a homey sort of energy about it – which was probably a strange way to look at a car, but to Rhys it felt like just the right way to put it.

Rhys was honestly surprised that Jack had let him go to university at all. Ever since he had taken control of Hyperion, he had been overprotective of him and for good reason. There were always people out there that would take advantage of Rhys because of his connection to Jack. People that would try to manipulate or use him. People that would hurt him. People that might kidnap him or hold him hostage.

So, Jack had taken all of the necessary precautions to make sure that Rhys would always be safe. Growing up, he had guards escorting him everywhere. He had been educated privately, by the best and most loyal teachers that Jack’s money could buy. Rhys had been sheltered away when he was younger, he hadn’t had many opportunities to make friends with other’s his age. Any friends that he had made had been hand picked out for him. Even when he decided to let him go off to college, he had made sure that Rhys went to a prestigious school with an exclusive admission list that was in a Hyperion friendly town. Even if Rhys somehow ditched his bodyguard, there would always be Hyperion guards and soldiers there to make sure that he didn’t end up in too much trouble.

In the end, it probably hadn’t been a good idea for Jack to let him go off. Not because Rhys was in danger at his school in Hollow Point, but because he had become so much more adventurous over the few years of being relatively left on his own. He loved the freedom that he had now. He got to choose all of his friends and his classes, he got to choose what parties he went to, who was and who was not entitled to his time. It was nice. He liked having full control over his own life.

Rhys beamed at August. “I can’t wait to get back home, I haven’t been there in such a long time!” He said as he stretched his limbs out, as much as he could manage in the cramped space. “Oh, I can’t wait for you to meet my dad…I’m sure that he’ll love you.” Then Rhys started to ramble, as he often did when he thought too hard. “But no pressure, you know? Because even if he hates you he’ll love you because he loves me and I-” Rhys stopped in his tracks and let out a nervous giggle. “Never mind.”

August readjusted in his seat and fixed Rhys with a scrutinizing look, “You know… you don’t really talk about him a lot.” He commented. “You two have a sort of strained relationship or something?” He asked, “Anything I need to worry about?” He added warily.

Rhys usually didn’t like to talk about Jack because when people knew who Rhys’ father was, they tended to get this greedy look in their eyes and tried to take advantage of him. Rhys had been trying to open up to August more and more about him as of late, as their relationship got more serious.

Rhys smiled and pulled out his phone. “No. We’re actually really close.” He said, then he pulled up a picture of him and Jack and showed it to August. It had taken shortly before he left for school, Jack had a big ass smile spread across his face. He had an arm wrapped around Rhys’ waist and he was pulling him in. Rhys had thrown up a peace sign and he looked like he was about to start laughing. They were standing in front of Hyperion’s headquarters – the huge sign spelling out the company’s name in big, bold letters was right behind them. “See? This is us.” He said, “I have more pictures. Lots of them, but…” He smiled, “I like this one a lot.”

August hummed thoughtfully at the sight in front of him. “You don’t really look like him.” He commented. Then at Rhys’ expression, he added. “Not that that’s a problem or anything.”

Rhys shook his head, smiling with an unreadable expression crossing his face. “It’s not biological it’s… well, it’s complicated.” Rhys replied, scoffing in amusement mixed with something else that he didn’t quite understand, or want to think about. “I don’t really like to talk about it.” Rhys sighed, “Speak of the devil.” August gave Rhys a perplexed look and he clarified, “Hold on. It’s my dad.” He said, “I gotta take this. He gets weird if I don’t answer right away. Like he thinks someone might have hurt me.” He rolled his eyes playfully, “You know how it is. Or, on second thought… maybe this is just an omega thing?” He shrugged as August rolled his eyes and gestured for him to go ahead. Rhys nodded, then he accepted the call and put his phone to his ear. “Hey Daddy!” Rhys hummed over the phone.

“Hey princess.” Jack replied, his tone of voice easygoing and casual. “How’s everything going?”

“Oh, I’m good.” Rhys responded, “I’ve been stuck in a car all day with my boyfriend and that’s kind of annoying but what can you do?” He shrugged.

“Boyfriend.” Jack commented dryly, “You didn’t tell me that you had a boyfriend now.” His tone was a little suspicious, bordering on annoyed. Rhys wasn’t bothered by it, not in the least.

“Yes, I did.” Rhys argued, looking at August with an exasperated expression spread across his face. August just shook his head and chuckled. Wordlessly, he put his finger to his lips in a gesture to make sure that he stayed quiet while he finished out the call.

“No, you didn’t I would have remembered that.” Jack replied and Rhys rolled his eyes, letting out a little scoff as he did so. “And don’t roll your eyes at me. I may not be able to see you, but I know that you just did.” The older man snapped. “I can just sense it.”

“Whatever.” Rhys huffed quietly, petulant like he was still the same bratty pre-teen that he had been when Jack took guardianship of him. “But I did tell you about him! His name is August

“Oh, right the…yeah, with the nose ring.” Jack replied. “I didn’t think it was that serious.” He said.

“Well, we’re on our way here now.” He said in a sing song voice. “So, I guess that it is that serious, actually.”

“Watch it, pumpkin.” Jack replied, his tone stern. “You know how much I hate it when you cop an attitude with me.”

“Oh.” Rhys exclaimed, “I would never do such a thing, daddy.” He said with faux sweetness. Jack chuckled on the other line and told him to drive safe. Rhys chuckled at August and squeezed his free hand. “Don’t worry. I’m sure everything will work out great.” He said sweetly.

August scoffed at that, “Please. I’m not worried.” He commented. Rhys smiled at him indulgently, before he excitedly turned towards the window and stared at all the sights on the road.

* * *

Jack had been kind of icy to August – and by extension, Rhys – all that night. Rhys didn’t understand what was wrong with him, he was usually so friendly to all of Rhys’ friends. But he had never really had a boyfriend before, he wasn’t very experienced and going to college on Pandora was the first time that he had ever really been exposed to anyone that Jack hadn’t personally hand picked for him.

‘Maybe he’s just getting protective over me.’ Rhys thought, trying to brush off any worries. ‘He’ll get used to August sooner or later. Everything will be fine. Just gotta give it some time. Hopefully.’

The two of them had retired that night in Rhys’ room. Technically, he had been told to take August to the guest room – and he would! - but he wanted to spend a little quiet time with the alpha before they had to go to bed. August sat cross legged on Rhys’ bed, looking over all of the various awards and mementos in his room.

He had an old photo album opened up and he was scrutinizing it with amusement. “Wow.” He said as he pointed to a particularly embarrassing picture of a middle school aged Rhys with braces, glasses and out of control curly hair. He was sitting with a chubby kid with glasses and brown hair as well as a pretty girl with dark skin and a smug look spread across her face. Rhys had his arms wrapped around the both of them and a big smile spread across his face. “You know, I think I saw you wear that shirt before!” He commented as he noticed the Hack-A-Thon tee shirt he was wearing, “Only it was a crop top when I saw it on you.” He smiled, “Did you get it hemmed or is that just what it looked like after you hit your growth spurt?” He asked teasingly.

“Shut up, oh my god…” Rhys replied, putting his hands over his face to hide his embarrassed flush. “If you don’t I’m gonna…” He pouted as he trailed off, “Just shut up. Stop talking.”

“Uh-huh.” August replied dryly. “And how exactly are you gonna shut me up?” He asked, raising a brow to challenge the omega.

Rhys bit his lip and smirked as a devious plot popped into his head, “Like this.” He said cheekily, right before he moved in to sweetly kiss the alpha. It was supposed to be just a peck, but August deepened the kiss and wove his fingers through Rhys’ hair – purposefully mussing it up as he did so.

Rhys quietly moaned August’s name and pressed against him just a little. August squeezed his ass in response. Rhys giggled and ground his hips against the alpha’s own. The two of them were so caught up in the moment, so enraptured with each other’s company. They didn’t notice anyone or anything outside of their little bubble. Then suddenly, the door swung open and the light turned on. Rhys looked back to see Jack standing in the door frame and practically jumped out of August’s lap. “Get out.” Jack snapped at August. August and Rhys both just looked at him like he was absolutely crazy. Neither of them moved a muscle, which just irritated Jack even more.

Rhys looked at Jack with a confused expression, “Jack, what the hell are you-” He started to say only to be cut off by Jack with just a look. “Daddy?” He asked, quietly, like he was still a little boy afraid of getting unfairly punished. But Jack just looked past him, at August – with rage in his eyes.

“Get. Out.” Jack snapped again, his tone dangerous and low. “I’m not gonna ask you again.” He added, just as viciously.

“What?” Rhys huffed, “No. you can’t just make him leave, he didn’t do anything wrong.” He said stubbornly. Again Jack acted like Rhys wasn’t even there. He looked past Rhys, looking at August like he was some kind of dangerous intruder. Rhys hated being sidelined like this.

August looked at Rhys warily, “It’s fine, Rhys. Just, eh, call me whenever you figure… whatever the fuck is happening here out.” He said, more concerned for Rhys’ safety than anything else. He didn’t have much context, but he knew that staying in Jack’s territory any longer than necessary wouldn’t end well. Jack half escorted August out of his house and half threw him out. Thankfully, August hadn’t put up any sort of fight with the older alpha, or else things would have been much worse.

Much more chaotic and rage filled – Rhys was sure that, if August hadn’t been so willing to pick his battles that this wouldn’t end well for him. He was grateful to him, for that. Rhys hugged his knees as he sat on his bed, feeling miserable as he waited for Jack to return. He knew that he would.

He didn’t have to wait long, only a few minutes before Jack returned and stood in the door frame. He looked at Rhys with an agitated expression – one that Rhys mirrored well. “Jack what the hell was that?” He snapped at the older alpha. “Y-you just can’t treat people like this!”

“He had his hands all over you. It was wrong.” Jack hissed as he walked in. He sat down on the bed, close to Rhys. “He was gonna do something to you, I couldn't abide by that, kitten."

“That’s ridiculous.” Rhys huffed as he threw his hands up, “We were just kissing!” He snapped at the alpha. “Why are you acting like this?” He asked. Jack didn’t answer him. He looked into his eyes, quickly noticing the red rim around his irises. “Oh no.” He remarked to himself as he realized what was wrong – at least part of it. Jack was in rut. Rhys tried to make himself small then, worried about what Jack would do to him while he was out of his mind. “D-daddy, please… it’s me.” He mumbled.

The next thing that Rhys knew, Jack had grabbed Rhys around the waist and picked him up. He placed him over his knees and held him down while he tore off his pants. The thin material of his trousers and underwear were practically ripped to shreds by the time that Jack got them off of him. Rhys squirmed in the alpha’s grasp. “S-stop it!” He shouted, trying to get away from the alpha.

Jack ignored him and squeezed his ass, touching him appreciatively for just a moment before he struck the omega with his bare hand. The omega cried out – mostly from pain, but also from the shock of being struck like this. Rhys had never been spanked before. Not when it had only been him and his mom – though, she rarely paid much attention to him anyways and rarely if ever bothered to punish him – and not when Jack had taken guardianship over him.

Jack struck him over and over again, until Rhys was crying and whining from the pain and humiliation of it all. When Rhys’ bottom was cherry red and he was trembling in fear, Jack pulled his own belt off and wound it up in his hand. When he struck him with that Rhys lurched away and began to babble pleas for the alpha to stop. “Stay still.” Jack growled in warning, “Or I’ll make your punishment worse.” It was easy to scare the omega into submission. Jack struck him over and over again with the belt, no rhyme or reason or pattern to his hits they were random and quick.

He didn’t seem to tire one bit, it was like adrenaline was keeping him active. It was only when Rhys was quiet and still, when Rhys had accepted that he couldn’t stop Jack from doing anything, when he had accepted his situation that Jack had finally stopped hitting him. He let out a shuddering gasp as the alpha stroked his ass in a gentle manner to sooth him. It was like he was petting a skittish animal. Strangely, despite everything else, the petting calmed Rhys. When Rhys stopped crying completely and he lay there passive and still Jack moved him so that he was laying on his stomach, naked on his own childhood bed. Jack moved in between the omega’s spread thighs. His thumb teased around the rim of his hole, circling it with the calloused digit.

Rhys was leaking slick from his entrance in moments and Jack let out an appreciative rumble as he saw how wet Rhys was for him. He gathered a bit of slick on his fingers and tasted Rhys. “You taste so fucking good, my little kitten. Fucking sweet and delicious.” He purred. He started to nudge his fingers inside of the omega’s entrance. Jack’s fingers were thick and unrelenting. Rhys cried out as he was penetrated for the first time by them, the stretch was so strange to him and he knew it was only a taste of what was to come.

He pumped his fingers in and out of Rhys’ hole until he was wet and leaking slick all over his thighs and the blankets underneath him. It didn’t take long for Rhys to come on Jack’s fingers. He came quick and hard, it was incredibly overwhelming to the omega. Jack kept touching him as the aftershocks rolled over him. He tried to snap his legs shut tight to prevent Jack from touching him in any of his sensitive spots, but the alpha just forced his legs apart again. “I think you’re ready for daddy’s cock now, princess.” He hummed in the omega’s ear. “Isn’t that nice?” He cooed.

Rhys whimpered with a confusion mixture of lust and fear. Despite himself he nodded, though he was sure that the alpha wasn’t expecting any sort of real answer out of him. Rhys kept his legs spread wide open as Jack nudged his hard cock against Rhys’ slick and open entrance.

He started off with just the tip and he stroked himself for a bit like that, but he quickly got tired of that and forced the rest of his cock inside of the omega. Rhys cried out loudly, his moan near pained. Then Jack pulled nearly all the way out of him, only to slam back inside of the omega. He set up a steady rhythm with his thrusts. He fucked Rhys like he was a little rag doll all the while Rhys cried and whimpered, begging him to be gentle with him. But Jack was too far gone to listen to his cries.

He was so far gone, so feral in fact that he couldn’t stop himself as he bit down into Rhys’ neck, breaking open his bonding site – Rhys could hear it pop in his skull. Rhys let out a sob. “D-daddy no!” He cried, squirming underneath the alpha. Jack just shushed him, nuzzling against the omega. “D-daddy… you…” Jack just shushed him again and pet his hair. Rhys moaned, despite himself as he felt Jack’s knot swelling inside of him. “Y-you’re so big, daddy. Too big…” He whined quietly. He ground his face into the sheets underneath him.

He whimpered as he was gingerly moved onto his side, all the while he was still connected to the alpha’s knot. Jack wrapped his arms around Rhys and kissed his cheek in a gentle manner. “You’re such a good boy, Rhysie.” He cooed, “Such a sweet little thing for daddy.” He added, his voice low and sweet. Rhys trembled and shivered with mixed emotions. “Go to sleep baby. Daddy will be here to take care of you, I promise.” Jack murmured in the omega’s ear. Rhys was so exhausted and worn out that he gave up and let himself fall asleep without putting up anymore of a fight.

When Rhys’ eyes opened once again, he was laying on his side and he was naked and Jack’s arms were wrapped around him. He squirmed out of the alphas arms and looked down at himself. He was covered in bruises and bite marks, there were hickeys all over his neck and a dull ache between his thighs. He whimpered and pulled up the blanket to find that Jack was naked as well. He was laying on his back with a content expression spread across his face, even in his sleep. Rhys could tell that he was satisfied with himself – he didn’t know how he should feel about that.

Really, he didn’t know how he should feel about any of this. Jack had… he had held him down and made him take his knot and Rhys knew that some part of him really liked it. When he had been a teenager, he had fantasized about this sort of thing. About Jack being his alpha – he had felt a lot of shame about it too. He would tell himself that Jack was his father, it was wrong to want him like that. He had been so ashamed of himself that he even confessed his attraction to the alpha to his therapist and his therapist had assured him that he was just grateful to Jack for taking him out of such a terrible situation and his feelings were misdirected so that they felt romantic to the omega, at first blush. After years and years of convincing, he had finally made himself believe it to be true. Until now.

“Go back to sleep, pumpkin.” Jack murmured groggily, pulling Rhys from his thoughts as he spoke to him. Rhys turned back to him and looked at him with a frightened expression. Rhys didn’t move and Jack became agitated. “Rhysie, come back to bed now.” He demanded, his voice harsh enough that the omega in him wanted to obey.

Instinctively, Rhys’ fingers went up to his bonding gland, only to find that the skin was broken. Rhys looked at Jack in shock, “D-daddy what did you do?” He asked, unable to stop messing with the broken skin around it – as if he couldn’t believe that it was real. He had just bit and bonded by the older man, by his father. By the man that had raised him for the past decade and a half. “I, I don’t understand…Daddy w-why did you bond with me?” He whimpered. He didn’t understand any of this, he was so confused.

Jack responded by grabbing Rhys’ wrists and holding them over his head so that Rhys wasn’t in the way when he leaned down and scented the omega. “You still smell like blond prick.” He hissed. Rhys practically flinched at how harsh his tone was. He had never acted like this before. Not with Rhys. Never with Rhys. “You shouldn’t smell like him, you should smell like me.”

“What?” Rhys asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.

Jack growled lowly in Rhys’ ear. It was like he was some kind of wild animal, like he was feral and dangerous – liable to bite if Rhys got too close. “I said…you should smell like me.” He murmured lowly, nuzzling against his skin as if he was trying to coat him in his scent. “You will in time.” He added, his tone of voice strangely satisfied.

Then Jack pulled Rhys up, so that he was sitting in his lap. “Go on and take a shower. I don’t want his scent on you anymore.” He demanded in a surprisingly gentle tone of voice. Rhys looked at Jack shyly, peering at the alpha through his lashes. Jack chucked Rhys under his chin and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. “Okay?”

“O-okay.” Rhys replied. He was shaky to get up to his feet. He felt like he was having some kind of out of body experience. Like one of the strange, erotic dreams that he had about Jack that he had had back in the day had true, but instead of being beautiful and romantic like he had imagined it to be, it was different. Not necessarily unwanted, but incredibly strange all the same.

Rhys walked out of the bedroom. At first, he was gonna head straight to the bathroom and do exactly as his alpha had ordered but he decided to take a quick pit stop to his room. He grabbed his phone, then headed right to the bathroom. He locked the door to it and sat himself down on the counter.

He decided that, before he did anything else, he needed to call up August and explain himself. Or at least, get as close to the truth as he could manage, without telling the full truth or admitting everything that Jack had done to him after he had been thrown out. Because there was no way that he would ever be able to understand. “Rhys?” August greeted, his voice was gravelly and rough. Rhys looked at the clock and realized how late it was, there was no way that he hadn’t woken him up. “What’s going on?” He asked and there was an edge of concern for Rhys in the way that he spoke to the omega.

“I wanted to tell you that I-” Rhys huffed, cutting himself off. Why did everything in his life have to be so complicated? Why couldn’t he just have a normal social life? A normal father? It didn’t seem like he was lucky enough to get any of that. “I’m sorry for what my dad did, when he kicked you out of the house I really didn’t expect that! God, I am just so sorry.” His voice died down into something tiny and frightened, more vulnerable than he had allowed himself to be in a long time.

“Eh, I’ve been through worst.” August replied and Rhys smiled, “I got strict parents too, I mean my ma never did anything like that to me but… pretty close.” He chuckled.

“You don’t need to be so polite about it. It was weird, it was so weird.” He sighed, “Anyway, I tried to talk to him about it. When he finally chilled out.”

“Yeah what did he say?” He asked, “Did he tell you why he decided to throw me out of the house or what?” Rhys could practically hear August rolling his eyes, could practically see the agitation that was no doubt present in his expression. Rhys didn’t blame him for any of it, this whole situation was ridiculous.

“Yeah.” Rhys replied, “It had nothing to do with you.” He lied, “It’s just that…” He frowned and shivered as he tried to come up with the perfect excuse. He couldn’t tell the truth – he could never, ever tell August the truth. That would just be too embarrassing and shameful – but he didn’t want to say something

“Rhys?” August prompted, pulling Rhys out of his thoughts.

Shit. Rhys had to think fast. “He was so angry and threw you out, because I…” He cursed under his breath. “Because he arranged a match for me and he didn’t want us to go… to far.” He blurted out, all in one breath. “He must have forgotten to tell me, the match happened so quickly…”

“Shit. I didn’t think people did that anymore.” August replied, sounding like the thought of Rhys ending up in some arranged match was unheard of. “That’s fucking medieval.” He said.

Rhys shrugged. “It’s actually pretty normal where Jack comes from apparently. So he saw no problem about arranging it. It won’t be that bad. He um, he… hand picked my new alpha for me. Some rich guy that will treat me like royalty.” Rhys sighed and shook his head. “I just wish he had told me about it first.” He added bitterly.

“Are you okay with that?” The alpha asked, only showing concern for him – it broke Rhys’ heart that he had to lie to him like this. Rhys was definitely not okay with this. Not at all.

Rhys smile sadly. “Well, I don’t think it really matters what I am or am not okay with here.” He said, his tone flat with defeat. “It’s out of my hands at this point. I’m probably not going to be coming back to Hollow Point.” He explained quietly, his tone betraying the depression that he felt at the prospect. He had loved going to school! He loved seeing all of his friends and being the star of all of his classes. He loved the extracurricular activities and all of the parties that he got to attend. “I’m not going back to school, so.” He added bleakly. “Sorry…”

“Nah, c’mon don’t need to apologize.” August replied, “S’not your fault.” He assured. Rhys went quiet at that. He felt a bit like it was his fault. But as far as August knew, there was no possible way that it could be. “Rhys?” August prompted again.

“Yeah?”

“If you ever… run into trouble, you can always call me up.” He said, “If you ever decide that you don’t wanna end up being matched to some stinking rich asshole, I’ll be at the Purple Skag.” Rhys was sure that August was pitying him for the situation he thought Rhys was in, even if he didn’t want to be obvious about it.

Rhys let out a tiny sigh of relief. “Thanks, August.” He said, his tone of voice belying how grateful he truly was to the alpha for not hating him because of all of this. He heard Jack calling him and asking if he was okay in the bathroom and if he had taken his shower yet. He cursed under his breath, “I, um, I think I have to go now.” He said apologetically. After Rhys hung up the call he finally decided to actually take that shower.

He spent over an hour washing himself, scrubbing his skin and forcing himself to forget all of the things that had happened that day, how everything about his life had so drastically changed in the last few hours. It was hard getting used to it. After he got out of the shower, Rhys walked back into the bedroom, dressed in only a little slip and some lacy, silk underwear that Jack had set out for him. Rhys had noticed that there were still tags on them, so he must have just ordered them, sometime after he bonded him. They were nice though, expensive and they made the omega in Rhys preen at the thought that Jack would take good care of him – it would be just like he always had, only… different. Very different indeed.

Jack was sitting up in bed, wearing only his boxers. He had his glasses on and his echo was lit up with all his work stuff being projected out of it. He looked up and smiled gently at Rhys, “You look gorgeous in that.” He complimented, “Come over her, sit with me.” He added, patting the spot on the bed next to him. Rhys walked over to sit next to him and as soon as he was within reaching distance Jack swooped him into his arms and sat him down on his lap.

Rhys smiled weakly at the alpha – at his alpha – as Jack’s fingers trailed up the backs of his bruised thighs. He tried not to hiss at the stinging feeling, tried to keep his face placid and serene so that he wouldn’t accidentally do something to upset Jack. Jack didn’t seem to notice the expression on Rhys’ face, but he did notice that Rhys stiffened and shivered as he was gently touched. Jack frowned and looked at Rhys’ bruised up ass and thighs. “Oh, look at you pumpkin.” He hummed with sympathy that was so convincing that Rhys had no way of telling whether or not it was sincere. “You bruised up so badly. I’m sorry baby, I must have gone overboard with you…”

Jack frowned and hoisted Rhys up by his hips and moved him so that he was laying on his side next to him – mindful not to agitate any of his bruises as he did so. Rhys instinctively curled up against the alpha, even as he started to whimper and sniffle. Even as tears rolled down his cheeks. Jack responded to Rhys’ upset by pulling him closer and holding him in his arms. Jack let Rhys cry his heart out, he let him cry until he was too exhausted from all the crying that he was doing to even so much as whimper when Jack moved them so that he was laying on his back underneath him.

He looked up at Jack with a quiet, reserved expression. He didn’t know what to expect of the alpha. He was acting so differently to how he had when he was Rhys’ guardian. He had been rough, borderline cruel when he was fucking him – and now he was acting so gentle with him…it gave him emotional whiplash. Jack stroked Rhys’ cheek in a gentle manner and the gentle action made him tremble even more. His thumb traced Rhys’ lower lip, making the omega shiver with something. Maybe want.

Maybe something else. The omega frowned, “How long have you wanted me?” Rhys asked, feeling himself become bolder by the second. He wasn’t even angry. Not really. He just wanted to know why. Then “Have you always wanted me? Is that why you took me in all those years ago?” He huffed, “Because you wanted to wait for me to be older to, to…” He made a helpless noise, as if the thought of it was physically painful for him.

Jack narrowed his eyes, “No.” He said. What Rhys was suggesting made Jack stiffen with discomfort and unease, it finally made a part of him come back reality and stop pretending that all of this was just business as usual. “I didn’t.” He snapped, his voice icy and quick. “Not like this, not before now.”

Rhys frowned at that and shook his head, “That’s not a good answer.” He huffed. After everything that had happened to him, everything Jack had just done to him. “Please, you have to-” Jack stopped him from saying anything more by diving in to warningly dig his teeth into Rhys’ bonding gland. It stopped Rhys in his tracks, his words dying in his mouth.

Jack pulled away from the gland as soon as he was sure that Rhys was going to be quiet and listen to him. He looked at Rhys with a strange expression spread across his face. “I don’t know what to tell you.” He finally confessed. “I never saw you in that way before.” He explained.“You were just…you were Rhys. You were the sweet little boy I took in after his mom walked out. Then you come back here, all grown up… on the arm of some alpha that doesn’t deserve you.” He huffed quietly, “Suddenly, I had to have you. Sent me into fucking rut so all I could think about was taking you.” He smiled, “And now I do. You’re my omega now and I’ll take care of you for as long as I’m here.” He smiled at Rhys serenely and pet his cheek again. This time Rhys – decidedly giving up on trying to fight with his reality – leaned into the touch. “Just like I always have.”


End file.
